Who Wants a Cheap Rhinoceros?

Illustrated in Silverstein’s signature spare black-and-white ink drawings, Who Wants a Cheap Rhinoceros? is a straightforward tale that’s really a pros and cons list (to owning a rhinoceros as a pet) than a story with beginning, middle, and end. There’s no moral; this is for the grins only. The drawings are eccentric and wild and truly the book’s defining quality (unlike Silverstein’s famous [book:The Giving Tree|370493], whose prose easily can compete alongside its drawings). The illustrations are essential to the writing as they make clear exactly how useful a rhinoceros’s horn can be. (E.g., “And he makes a very lovely lamp” is accompanied by a picture of a rhino with a lampshade on its horn.)

The pros and cons are show more humorous and inventive: “He is hard to build a house for. But he is lots of fun at the beach.” Only one is so outdated that it will sail over the heads of today’s children: “He is wonderful for playing records if you have no phonograph.”

Readers be forewarned of this pro: “And he is great for not letting your mother hit you when you haven’t really done anything bad.” “Hit” could be switched out for “reprimand” (if being read aloud to a young child who can’t yet read along and if the reader is quick enough to catch it and switch it). show less

Another absurd and delightful book by Shel Silverstein. This one has great heart. Clearly the little boy plays quite a bit with his rhinoceros, but the heart comes in at the last page where he declares that his rhinoceros is easy to love. Because it is a rhinoceros that we usually think of as a violent figure and not as a lovable playful pet, it adds more hilarity to the situations, it also makes it sweeter. As usual the artwork has no background, which is unnecessary in the sketches he made. The people and animals tell the story on their own.

Who wants a cheap Rhinoceros? This book is simple and humorous. You can't help but use your imagination to come up with ways a rhinoceros could benefit you like getting you out of trouble with your mom, making your dad give you an allowance, or help your aunt make donuts. This book would be good to read on a rainy day where the kids can just let their minds run through the possibilities.

One thing I love about Shel Silverstein books is that they are so cute, a little bizarre and leave a small lection to the kids...and that's all I can ask.

This one shows how important is have a pet, but in a courious way, 'cause this pet is a rhino, the cuttest rhino I ever see BTW, and the pros and cons of having this particular animal.

I enjoyed a lot.

In my opinion, this is a fun book! There are numerous reasons with I think that, first off the language is very unique. It is a poetry book, which makes the language very descriptive, and full of vibrant words. The only trait the language of Shel Silverstein's book did not posess was a patterned style of writing. However, this is so because poetry doesn't always have to rhyme or have a clear form, and that is what made this book even more enjoyable for me!

The second reason I found this a fun read is because of the illustrations. Every page of the book had a picture to match the words, and that is a plus. It creates another way young readers can comprehend the content of this book. If they get stuck on a word in the text, just refer to show more the picture to get a hint at what something means!

The book had these two great features which made me rate this book the way I did. Also, the overall message of this book portrayed to the reader, I think, was that its okay to be silly, and its okay to have friends to do it with. I think the book was just intended to be humorous and appealing in that matter to kids.

Overall, Who Wants A Cheap Rhinoceros was a fantastic read, and changed things up for me a bit in terms of variety, and I would recommend this book, indeed! show less

Summary: This poem starts describing a very cute rhinoceros for sale. The rhinoceros is sweet, fat, and huggable and as quiet as a mouse. Then it goes on to describe all of the ways he could be useful around the house, such as eating bad report cards before your parents see them and being a perfect jump rope partner.

Personal Reactions: This is such a cute story with great illustrations. Some of the lines made me sad, like the line about the rhinoceros being good to yell at because of the picture of a crying rhinoceros. Shel Silverstein was a big part of my childhood and I liked reading this as an adult.

Classroom Extensions: 1. This could be incorporated with a lesson plan about Shel Silverstein.
2. I would have the kids write a journal show more entry about what animal they would love to have as a pet and how that animal would help them around the house.
3. I think this is an excellent addition to a lesson plan on poetry. show less

This is a cute little book about if you had a rhinoceros for a pet. Shel Silverstein has quite the imagination of all the good and bad things you can do with a rhinoceros. His illustrations are essential into understanding each part of the text. I enjoyed this book very much. I found myself laughing at some of these ridiculous reasons for having a rhinoceros for a pet.